Memory devices, such as dynamic random access memories (“DRAMs”) may operate either asynchronously or synchronously. When operating synchronously, the operation of the memory device is controlled by a clock signal, and the speed at which the memory device operates is thus determined by the frequency of the clock signal. The memory device may be interfaced with an electronic device, such as a computer system, that is also operated synchronously at a frequency determined by its own clock signal, known as the system clock signal. Generally, the frequency of the system clock signal is the same as the frequency of the memory clock signal. However, it is often possible for a memory device to operate at a higher speed than the speed corresponding to the frequency of the system clock signal. In such case, the memory clock signal may have a higher frequency than the frequency of the system clock signal.
If a memory device synchronized to a relatively high speed memory clock signal could be interfaced with a system synchronized to a relatively slow speed system clock signal, it might be possible to increase the speed at which data could be written to or read from the memory device. However, it can be difficult to interface a memory device operating according to a memory clock signal having one frequency with an electronic system operating according to a system clock having a different, usually slower, frequency. This difficulty stems from the fact that the different clock frequencies inherently prevents the memory device from operating in synchronism with the electronic system.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for allowing a memory device operating in synchronism with a memory clock signal to interface with an electronic system operating in synchronism with a system clock signal having a frequency that may be different from the frequency of the memory clock signal.